''Cosmia affinis'', the lesser-spotted pinion, is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family (biology), family of moths. Taxonomically, they are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly ...

. It is found in central and southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, north to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, southern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

up to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. East, its range extends through northern and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

up to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is also found in north-western

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Technical description and variation

''C. affinis'' L. (47 d). Forewing fulvous or redbrown, more or less shaded with grey; inner and outer lines dark, conversely edged with paler, marked on costa generally by streaks of white scales; stigmata paler redbrown, undefined, the orbicular round, the reniform 8-shaped, with dark centres; submarginal line pale, waved, preceded by a deeper brown cloud, followed on costa by white scales, beyond which at the apex are two black spots; a row of small black marginal spots; hindwing blackish, black on terminal half; the fringe yellowish; instead of the red tints, examples occur of a greenish grey or pale brown colour = ab. ''suffusa'' Tutt (47 d), and ab. ''ochrea'' Tutt (47 d); a less common aberration occurring on the continent, but not confined to females as Spuler states; — ab. ''nigrimaculata'' ab. nov. (47 d) is marked by patches of black scales in the basal area along cell and vein 1, before and below the orbicular stigma, beyond the reniform in the angle of outer line, and more slightly before the termen. The Japanese examples are much larger than European = magna Stgr. (47 d); the white costal streaks are always less strongly developed, and are often altogether absent, the insect being more unicolor. or less uniformly red brown = ab. ''unicolor'' Stgr. (47 e). Larva pale green, with 5 white lines; the tubercles and the spiracles black. Warren. W. in Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'', Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914 The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 28–33 mm.

Biology

Adults are on wing from June to August in one generation. The larvae primarily feed on united leaves of ''

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

'' species, but have also been recorded on ''

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

'', ''

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...

'' and ''

Prunus spinosa ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in B ...

''.

References

External links

Lesser-spotted Pinion on UKmothsFauna EuropaeaLepiforum.deschmetterlinge-deutschlands.de
Cosmia Moths of Japan Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Moths described in 1767 {{Hadeninae-stub